Education Technology


Business opportunities


Virtual classroom, intelligent classroom – why not both?


In two days, last month, AV News took-in previews of two ground-break- ing developments in the dissemination of education to remote or even inaccessible groups of students. The two groups have very different needs and demand very different solutions.


This week AV News ag the op- portunity to see two new edtech solutions on consecutive days. First, the BETT show provided the venue to see Promethean’s new Intelligent Classroom – the first showing outside of Egypt, the initial market for the solu- tion.


Intelligent Classroom is a pio- neering, new, modular solution that enables the efficient con- struction of fully equipped and modern learning environments. The Intelligent Classroom has been developed as a rapidly deployed solution that helps to reduce classroom density, in- creases the number of school buildings and uses technology to enhance the education process. First unveiled at Cairo’s Afri- ca 2019 Forum in November 2019, the Intelligent Class- room will now be showcased to senior officials and educators from around the world at BETT. Brought to market by Promethe- an’s parent company, NetDrag- on Websoft and featuring the Promethean ActivPanel, the In- telligent Classroom has already been adopted by the Egyptian Ministry of Education as part of a strategy to upgrade and bolster its education provision. Sharing insights from this strategic part- nership, Promethean will pres- ent the Intelligent Classroom to highlights innovative approach- es to raising educational stan- dards worldwide. His Excellency, Dr. Tarek Shawki, Minister of Education and Technical Education, Egypt, comments: “Our objective is to rapidly and significantly im- prove the quality of education provision, which in the modern world demands a highly digital approach. Promethean has prov- en to be a trusted partner, not only in delivering a solution that can upgrade our existing class- rooms, but also innovating with NetDragon to develop the Intel- ligent Classroom. We are now in a very strong position to achieve our objectives and deliver world- class education.”


More than a temporary fix


Vin Riera, Chief Executive Offi- cer, Promethean, commented: “It is a privilege and honour to support the Ministry of Educa- tion, Egypt in delivering prac- tical and innovative solutions that will ultimately contribute to the improvement of education throughout the country.” “As a company specialising exclusively in education tech- nology, we work closely with gov- ernments around the world to implement strategies that raise educational standards through the effective implementation of


our ActivPanel. We look forward to welcoming the Ministry of Ed- ucation and Technical Education and are excited to share our suc- cesses by bringing the Intelligent Classroom to the UK for the first time.”


Alistair Hayward, Promethe- an Head of UKI & ANZ Market, explained that although the In- telligent Classroom reflects the trends in the modern construc- tion of manufactured buildings – the whole thing fits inside a con- tainer on a truck – sitting inside the Classroom is nothing like the prefab experience of many UK school extensions with their ob- viously temporary feel. The Intel- ligent Classroom is finished to a high standard. Is fully equipped with the latest edtech, air-condi- tioned and compatible with en- vironmental controls to optimise the learning space.


Global solutions


The truly global nature of the Pro- methean business was on show at BETT with an example of last year’s huge roll out of the Pro- methean panel paired with chalk boards in a custom configura- tion. New from Promethean for BETT 2020 was the ActivPanel Elements Series and a number of new educational partnerships that support Promethean in the wider integration of technology into the curriculum.


The Learning Partnership, which has recently been ap- pointed as Promethean’s exclu- sive UKI Science, Technology, Engineering,


Arts and Promethean


(STEAM) partner, will be sup- porting


by


Maths en-


couraging the engagement of students


in STEAM subjects


with an exclusive bank of time saving resources which can be enhanced through the use of the ActivPanel.


Focusing on the little things that make a big difference in the classroom, the ActivPanel Ele- ments Series provides teachers with advanced IT connectivity, simplified use and exclusive Vel- lum technology that delivers a unique writing experience that is as natural as putting pen to paper.


Beyond STEAM subjects, BecomingX will be joining Pro- methean to help teach children ‘what it takes to succeed’. Set up by Paul Gurney and Bear Grylls, BecomingX will be encouraging member schools to develop valu- able life skills and resilience to use throughout education and beyond.” With the initial phase of con- struction


2020, the Intelligent Classroom will


help Egypt to


being undertaken in address a


shortfall in the number of class- P20 AV News February 2020


Intelligent Classroom is a pioneering, new, modular solution that en- ables the efficient construction of fully equipped and modern learning environments.


in Kortrijk, Belgium. Here, the ESSEC Business Scholl dissemi- nates real-time distance learning with Barco virtual classroom, as a further step in broadening educational provision. Barco we- Connect enables leading inter- national business school to bring forward innovative new remote learning program for worldwide


students


The ESSEC Business School has pioneered a new approach to


real-time distance learning, thanks to a major investment in a state-of-the-art virtual classroom solution from Barco. The school, which has been teaching for over a century, is one of the leading business schools in Europe. At its Executive Education Campus


crucial to all educational institu- tions.


Collaboration


Vincenzo Esposito Vinzi, Presi- dent and Dean of ESSEC Busi- ness School said: “In today’s digital world, educators need to ensure they are utilizing the latest innovative technologies to provide a blended learning experience. Participants need to be able to join lectures flexibly, accessibly and securely,


with-


out feeling like their experience will be sub-standard or that they will miss out on important peer- to-peer interaction. Teachers, meanwhile, need to feel com- pletely confident in the technol-


ESSEC is currently running an extensive testing phase with the new facility and training its em- ployees – not just the teachers but also the support staff who will manage and ‘produce’ the


The Barco weConnect solution enables teachers at ESSEC to replicate a physical classroom for remote participants. The teacher stands at the front of the classroom as in a traditional learning environment, but with up to 84 people joining remotely.


rooms needed to meet the needs of the population while equip- ping the learning environments with world-class teaching and learning technology. In addition to the roll-out of the Intelligent Classroom, the Promethean Ac- tivPanel will upgrade technology in 26,000 existing classrooms. The installation programme for the existing estate will com- mence in January 2020 and is scheduled for completion by the Summer.


Distance Learning


Day 2 of the AV News EdTech Fest moving the venue to Barco’s stunning headquarters building


in La Défense, Paris, ESSEC has just installed Barco’s weConnect virtual classroom at its main campus to enable the school to provide business courses to pro- fessionals around the world. The pioneering move by ES- SEC reflects and embraces the growing desire by professional students to receive training in a variety of different ways. Ac- cording to ESSEC, on-campus teaching will always be a funda- mental part of education at all levels. But with participants who are often learning while working full-time, the ability to provide remote, non-linear training of the same quality and interactivi- ty as face-to-face learning is now


ogy and the interaction they have with participants, so they can fo- cus on doing what they do best.” The Barco weConnect solution enables teachers at ESSEC to replicate a physical classroom for remote participants. The teacher stands at the front of the class- room as in a traditional learning environment, but with up to 84 people joining remotely. The par- ticipants are all displayed to the teacher on a series of screens at 100% real-life size, meaning that interaction between teacher and participant can happen just as it does in a live classroom en- vironment.


The system has various inter- activity


features including the


ability to issue live polls and quizzes, hold moderated Q&As, and to split groups into break- out sessions – enabling small, close-collaboration working groups between participants who might be physically in all four corners of the globe.


Stephane Potelle, Head of Dig- ital Campus at ESSEC explains: “With a 100% online learning program,


students have espe-


cially high expectations of the learning they want to receive, and those expectations will of- ten be formed by the ingrained picture they have of a more tra- ditional learning environment. So, whether you are providing synchronous or asynchronous learning, in whatever format, you need to do it in a way that feels most comfortable to both teach- er and learner. “Barco’s weConnect solution enables our faculty to offer dif- ferent learning methods depend- ing on the course material and the preferences of the partici- pants. But by mirroring a tradi- tional lecture it ensures both the participants and the educators are fully engaged and comfort- able in the environment.”


Testing and roll-out


lessons - on how to use the solu- tion to its full potential. Once testing is complete, they will be rolling out a new program of virtual classes in January – not only enabling a greater cohort of students to receive the benefit of ESSEC’s world-leading train- ing but bringing in valuable new revenue streams to the business school. Ellen Van de Woestijne, Seg- ment Marketing Director at Bar- co said: “The education sector is undergoing a major period of digital transformation at the mo- ment. The most forward-think- ing educational institutions are realizing that it’s vital to invest in new technologies to be able to deliver courses in a way that works with students’ lives, which meets their always-rising expec- tations and, most importantly, to bring in valuable new revenue streams and facilitate further growth and success.


“ESSEC had tried other solu- tions for this such as tradition- al video conferencing, but they found that these systems simply weren’t able to facilitate the type of interaction and engagement that makes a virtual course suc- cessful. We are pleased that they chose our weConnect technology to ensure their remote students have the best possible learn- ing experience and have been thrilled by the reaction this had from their educators.” Whether it’s the physical facili- ty or the digital infrastructure, or a mix of the two, we are certain to see radical changes which could drive a levelling-out of global provision in the near future.


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